Catheters are often used in exploratory and testing procedures to avoid invasive surgical procedures. Access to the patient's body is usually gained through existing body orifices, small incisions or punctures. In use, the catheter is progressively driven into the patient's body by pushing it along existing body cavities, tubes, ducts, or blood vessels to the target area within the patient's body. To avoid damage to body tissues, the catheter must be highly flexible. Furthermore, catheters are normally of small diameter to allow their use within small conduits and to increase flexibility. For example, the diameter of a catheter for use in a testing procedure is normally with the range of 0.10 mm to 4 mm. This small diameter makes manipulation of the catheter by the operator difficult, especially when working under aseptic conditions with talcum-treated latex gloves. Moreover, the light-weight and thin, wire-shaped portion of the catheter which remains external to the patient's body is naturally unstable and awkward to handle, in particular during insertion of the catheter deeper into the patient's body which requires pushing of the catheter by application of axial thrust to the portion of the catheter still outside the patient's body.
To overcome these problems and facilitate control and handling of a thin, highly-flexible catheter, it has been suggested to employ a modified pin vice having a handle portion provided with an axial through bore for insertion of the catheter so that it can be gripped by releasably closeable jaws of a chuck at the front end of the vice. The catheter is threaded through and tightly gripped by the jaws in the closed condition of the chuck. The catheter is progressively insetted into the body of the patient by pushing the catheter with the pin vice. Such a device provides the operator with substantially improved feel and grip of the catheter. However, this device is not practical in most applications and not cost effective. To change the position of the vice on the catheter, the chuck must be rotated relative to the body of the vice for opening and closing of the jaws. The observed technical weakness is that for this operation, the operator must use both hands, one to hold the handle and the other one to open or tighten the chuck. This means the physician setting the catheter, unless assisted by another person, cannot maintain control of the catheter's position and orientation in the patient's body, possibly leading to internal injury or damage to the catheter. The procedure is also time intensive. Moreover, the pin vice cannot be applied to the catheter after insertion thereof into the patient. It can also not be removed after insertion of the catheter is complete and may interfere with the subsequent testing procedure. In addition, the use of a pin vice is relatively costly since it normally does not withstand repeated sterilization rendering it unsuited for single use in aseptic environments.